The Role of 'Peace of Mind' and 'Meaningfulness' as Psychological Concepts in Explaining Subjective Well-being

Background Although extensive research has been conducted to explain what contributes to subjective wellbeing, still a substantial part of its variance remains unexplained. This study investigated whether psychological concepts 'peace of mind' and 'meaningfulness' contribute to SWB beyond the basic and psychological needs while using several needs theories as a theoretical basis and thereby hypothesizing that both concepts are actionable and help enhance SWB. Methods The cross-sectional data (N = 3770) of the Belgian National happiness study (2018) were used. Three components of SWB (life satisfaction, positive and negative affect) were identified as predicted variables and used in threefold stepwise forward regression analyses. Results As expected both basic and psychological needs explained a considerable part of the three SWB components. However, including meaningfulness and peace of mind in the last step of the models resulted in a substantially higher total variance that was explained in these components (i.e. 56.7% for life satisfaction, 37.2% for positive affect, and 56.1% for negative affect). More specific, in the final models: basic needs, feelings of autonomy and relatedness, peace of mind and meaningfulness were significantly associated with the life satisfaction component. For the positive affect component: psychological needs, peace of mind, and meaningfulness were the significantly associated factors. Finally, the negative affect component was most significantly associated with basic needs, psychological needs, and peace of mind, while meaningfulness did not play a significant role in explaining negative affect. Discussion This study reconfirms the value of several needs theories in explaining the components of SWB and the role of universal needs. The final steps of the models also indicate that different needs contribute independently to the different SWB components. This is the first study demonstrating that 'meaningfulness' and 'peace of mind' contribute substantially to SWB beyond the typical basic and psychological needs.